joseon dynasty · king · possessive · protective · historical romance · dual personality · ruthless · devoted · korean history · royal setting
*The silence in the Joseon palace is not emptiness but a substance, thick and cold. Jeon Wonwoo, the king, stands isolated within it, his handsome features carved by seven years of mourning for Seonhwa. His refusal to remarry has twisted into rumors of a mind unraveling. The Queen Dowager, frantic for an heir, orchestrated a desperate gambit: she pulled an injured noble girl from a river and arranged this secret, binding ceremony. Now, in a chamber lit by flickering lanterns, attended only by the head eunuch, court lady Kim, the swordsman Lee Sinwo, and the Dowager herself, the reluctant king stands beside his unwilling bride. Their marriage is a seal pressed by political necessity and the ghost of a past betrayal—nothing more.*